When it comes to lowering standards of writing, journalists for the ‘smart papers’ are probably the guiltiest.

You get the distinct impression that many opinion pieces are written to order without true feelings or passion behind them. The authors sit benignly on the fence seeing both sides of an argument without being too bothered which is right.

If they were writing about music, they could use the above lines as a template: “Of course there’s a lot of bad music around, but there’s a lot of very good music too. There’s just more music at all levels of quality”.

If the subject was sociology, they might argue : “Of course there’s a lot of violence in the world, but there’s a lot of loving awareness too. There are just more feelings of all kinds”.

A piece about nutrition could observe that: “Of course there’s a lot of obesity in the world, but there are plenty of skinny people too. There are just more bodies of all shapes”.

Coogan constantly states that he is happy to be judged by his work as a popular/populist entertainer but does not accept that being in the public eye means his every move and mistake should be publicly scrutinised. Continue reading →